Tiger declawed, cards 7 at TPC’s island green

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — For the first time in his career at the Players Championship, Tiger Woods put two balls in the water at the par-3 17th hole, ruining an excellent start to his second round.

Woods pulled his first shot on the hole surrounded by water with a short iron, as it went long and left and rolled into the water. The hole was playing 146 yards. Then from the 100-yard drop area, he did it again, leading to a quadruple-bogey 7 — his highest score in 69 holes at the TPC Stadium course. Woods had to take penalty drops after each water ball and then two-putted from 20 feet.

Woods, who started on the back nine, had birdied the 12th, 13th and 16th holes to get to 5 under and tied for eighth in the tournament, two shots behind the leaders. The quadruple-bogey dropped him back to 1 under and a tie for 57th, just one shot inside the cut line.

The 80-time PGA Tour winner opened the tournament on Thursday with a 2-under-par 70. In 17 previous appearances at the tournament, Woods, 43, had five top-10 finishes, including victories in 2001 and 2013.

Entering the day, Woods had hit just four balls in the water over his career at the 17th.